Strengthening Your Atheism - The Psychological Explanation for Religion
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Questions and Answers

This page is constantly updated and lists questions and aswers based on reactions that were sent to me by visitors to this site.

Q1: Is the Embryonic and Parental Shell Theory based on emperical evidence and research ?

A1: The Theory is based entirely on well researched findings in the realm of psychology and in particular psycho-analysis. It should be noted that actually none of the elements of the theory are completely new. Rather, the theory arranges existing well researched emperical findings into a comprehensive explanation of the origins of belief in devine beings. The comprehensive theory has been extensively tested and researched by me over many years of psycho-analytic professional activity.

Q2: Your theory doesn't at all refer to the philosophical & logical negation of the existence of god(s). Most atheists stress that atheism should be based exclusively on logical arguments and not on psychological issues that are per definition too subjective to hold ground and are similar to theists' arguments.

A2: Let's make one thing clear. I too strongly adher to the opinion that negation of the existence of god should be entirely based on logical philosophical arguments. This site is certainly not meant to "prove" the non-existence of god by psychological means. It attempts to explain why so many people who accept these logical arguments still experience religious inclinations, feelings and thoughts. It shows that these inclinations are NOT a contradiction to the logical arguments and shouldn't be equalled to them since they stemm from illogical and irrational behavior, the psychological nature of which is explained by the Embryonic and Parental Shell Theory. In other words: the logical arguments for atheism are essential and indispensible, but are often not enough to establish a sound atheist viewpoint on day to day basis.

Q3: Your site is called "a psychological explanation for religion". Yet, it doesn't deal with all aspects of religion. For example, your theory doesn't explain afterlife which is a quite integral part of most religions.

A3: The Embryonic and Parental Shell Theory deals with the psychological explanation of the BELIEF IN GOD. It does not necessarily explain all components of religious frameworks, such as the belief in afterlife. Therefore, the title of the site probably would be better phrased as "an explanation for the belief in god(s)". For reasons of simplicity I chose "belief in religion", but admit that is less accurate.
The belief in afterlife is also well researched and is also psychologically based. There are two main incentives for belief in afterlife, one primary and one secondary.
The primary reason is the omnipresent fear of death and oblivion and therefore the crave for eternal existance. It is an exponent of the very basic inborn drive for self propagation. The other incentive is secondary to the belief in god and stemms from the need to settle discrepancies between the belief in a good, wise and almighty god and frequent occurences of seemingly unwarranted suffering.
Belief in god and belief in afterlife easily match up, both being metaphysical, but the psychological link is only secondary and therefore both issues can be dealt with separately. This site focusses on belief in god(s). Maybe in the future I will cover the subject of afterlife as well.